Anxiety & Depression

Gainesville Acupuncture Treatment For Anxiety & Depression

My Experience with Acupuncture, Anxiety, and Depression

Here at Gainesville, FL’s Deep Root Medicine, we have years of professional — and personal — experience with acupuncture therapy for anxiety and depression. Indeed, my very first exposure to acupuncture was as a treatment for my own anxiety and depression. Anxiety was the biggest threat for me — the depression was mainly a byproduct of being anxious all the time. I had tried several different medications, which offered short-term relief, but they didn’t provide a true long-term solution. However, I had read that acupuncture could help curb anxiety, so I decided to give it a try.

Acupuncture definitely helped — more so than I expected in fact. It wasn’t a miracle cure, but it made a significant difference in my ability to successfully cope with these mental states. Although I still struggle with anxiety from time to time, acupuncture therapy helped me find an experience of myself in which I am no longer overwhelmed by my anxious thoughts and feelings. The urgency of the anxiety and depression no longer leaves me stranded and alone, crippled emotionally and unable to reach out for help.

Ultimately, acupuncture helped me see my anxiety as a message about what was going on at the deepest levels of my body and mind. I then used these feelings as a reminder to check in with my body and be more aware of my moment-to-moment experience. Acupuncture helped me explore anxiety’s intense and unmanageable waves and look closely at what was really happening for me.

This process provided me with coping strategies, so I was able to simply “be” with those chaotic waves, rather than resisting them and feeling like I’m constantly drowning. I have heard many patients describe their experience with acupuncture for anxiety, depression and other mood disorders using similar words, and I’ve seen the clinical results of lives changed for the better that are moving toward greater freedom and peace.

How Acupuncture Improves Mental Health

Acupuncture shifts one’s perception of self toward a view that doesn’t involve the unrelenting pressure of anxiety and depression at every moment. Over time, acupuncture and herbal medicine shift one’s experience of these chronic mood dysfunctions, so there is an opportunity to comfortably exist in one’s body at peace and without fear or distress. This experience often happens during the initial acupuncture treatment and may last an evening or even into the next day. With regular acupuncture therapy, however, this relief begins to last for longer and longer periods of time — days, weeks, even months.

In my personal and clinical experience, as these effects begin to last longer with each acupuncture session, the body becomes more familiar with the sensation of being free from distress, and it begins to regulate itself toward this stable state more on its own. In addition to acupuncture treatment, I highly recommend taking up a daily meditation or contemplative practice to complement these effects from acupuncture.

The Power of Awareness

According to my tradition of training in traditional medicine, one of the ways acupuncture heals is by engendering increased awareness. Meditation and other contemplative techniques are based on the same principle, so complementing your acupuncture therapy with these practices can significantly enhance this process. In doing so, the mind and body begin to wake up to the possibility of viewing the world from a different perspective and living in an entirely new way. Combining acupuncture with these techniques can lead to truly profound, life-altering results.

Undergoing our Gainesville acupuncture therapy and other holistic treatments, your body will learn to relax, your thoughts will cease being so distracting, and you’ll find more freedom to appreciate the pleasure of little things — graceful movement, calm breathing, and spontaneous laughter. Over time, this freedom will permeate the majority of your daily activities, until you find yourself able to live in each and every moment more fully, freely, and without fear. Call Deep Root Medicine today to learn more about how our treatments and services can transform your life.